If you've been following my writing for any length of time, then you're likely already familiar with one of my few treasured holiday traditions - the Christmas Day viewing of a horror film. It's a tradition that I started early in my healing journey as a way to sort of channel the negativity and challenging emotions that often accompany my holiday experience. While my life has become much healthier and happier, for a number of reasons this "tradition" remains. For Christmas Day 2013, I chose to catch the indie Christmas-themed horror Caesar & Otto's Deadly Xmas, a Dave Campfield directed follow-up to Caesar & Otto's Summer Camp Massacre. Deadly Xmas, currently available on DVD through WildEye Releasing, is a campy, creative and fun indie horror featuring the comedy duo of Campfield and Paul Chomicki.

It is important to note, perhaps, that Caesar & Otto's Deadly Xmas is an intentionally campy, retro-vibed horror/comedy with a wealth of reverential winks to familiar B-movie horror delights and even a few special appearances by longtime indie horror and B-movie favorites. The story, and I'm sort of pretending that it actually matters here, involves a broke Caesar (Campfield) being offered a job (by none other than Scream Queen Linnea Quigley) as a Santa, a job that absolutely terrifies the guy courtesy of twisted info about Santa planted in his childhood by a twisted grandpa (played by none other than Troma's Lloyd Kaufman) that Santa not only gives to the good boys and girls but goes pretty seriously whup-ass on the bad ones.

About the time that Caesar agrees to go ahead and wear the Santa suit, another Santa (Deron Miller) starts going around killing a bunch of people (including the aforementioned Quigley, who gets to die a death not too far removed from her death in Silent Night, Deadly Night). The film that follows isn't really that particularly faithful to its story, but is instead an excuse for both Caesar & Otto (Chomicki) to have excuses to experience a grand variety of delicious and delightful horror experiences with most, once again, being reverential and fun winks to horror films past. The film also features an appearance by the always terrific Debbie Rochon, and while it would be a lie to say that everything about Deadly Xmas works it should be enjoyable entertainment for anyone blessed with the B-movie viewing gene.